Describing the W13 as a "sh*t-box", Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff has warned that Lewis Hamilton could be forced to sit out next weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

In the moments after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, having taken a pounding for over ninety minutes, the seven-time world champion could be seen slowly extricating himself from his car, the pain obvious.

With the rules insisting that he climb from the car unaided, the Briton finally got free, subsequently admitting that throughout the race he had been praying for it to end.

"Lewis, we all know this is a bit of a sh*t-box to drive at the moment," Wolff told his driver. "I'm sorry for the back also, we will sort ourselves out."

"I was just holding and biting down on my teeth due to the pain," the Briton subsequently told Sky Sports, "the adrenaline helped.

"I cannot express the pain that you experience, particularly on the straight here," he added. "At the end you are just praying for it to end. But we were in such a good position still, third and fourth, a great result for the team. The team did a great job with the strategy.

"Once we fix this bouncing we'll be right there in the race," he insisted. "But we were losing, for sure, over a second just with bouncing... or at least a second with bouncing.

"I'll be at the factory tomorrow, we've got to have some good discussions and keep pushing."

"He's really bad," admitted Wolff, "we have just got to find a solution.

"At this stage I think he is maybe the worst affected from all drivers," he continued. "But pretty much everyone, as far as I understood from the drivers, said that something needs to happen."

Asked if the Briton's obvious discomfort puts him at risk of missing next weekend's race, at a track likely to be just as punishing, the Austrian said: "I haven't seen him and I haven't spoken to him, but you can see this is not muscular anymore.

"This goes properly into the spine and can have some consequences. I don't think this is only Lewis' issue. He's the one that is probably worst affected. But generally, it also affects George and many others. The solution could be to have someone on reserve, which we have anyway at every race, to make sure that our cars are running."

From the outset of the weekend, teammate George Russell has been calling on the sport's powers that be to consider looking at the rules, the Briton warning that the sport could soon be looking at a "major incident" as a result of the effects of the pounding the drivers are taking.

However, it has now emerged that technical measures to ensure a minimum ride height, which would have eliminated the threat of porpoising, but would have compromised performance were rejected by the teams.

Asked about this at the post-race press conference, Russell replied: "I think that was totally understandable because every single team is understanding and developing their cars around a set of regulations, and any change, nobody knows what is going to be the consequences.

"I think we voted against it," he admitted. "And even now, we want change but who knows what that change is, it's just us, 20 drivers, we would choose to have a safer ride out there and when you're going 300kmh between the walls and you barely can keep the car in a straight line. I couldn't even see my pit board, the car was moving around so much.

"We have the technology in Formula 1 to resolve this with a click of our fingers, I believe, so as I said, nobody's looking to take advantage from this, we're just looking for a safer, easier solution."

Whilst more and more drivers are calling for action, the fact is that some teams (and their drivers) are suffering more than others, most likely because some teams are putting performance first.

While this is understandable, the fact is that one cannot have one's cake and eat it, and perhaps if teams are so concerned about their drivers well-being and comfort they should look into ride height... certainly after rejecting the proposal that would have alleviated the problem in the first place.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by F1nerd, 14/06/2022 21:36

"There is always Hulkenberg, he is always willing to be a replacement at short notice and will probably do very well."

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2. Posted by @R1Racing71, 14/06/2022 8:15

"If it really is as bad as they make out - then raise the ride height and live with the consequences.
That said - with my active suspension fan boy hat on - if they could reintroduce that all across the board - imagine how fast the cars would be :)"

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3. Posted by kenji, 14/06/2022 0:04

"@Meatball...well summmed up. The fact that the design of a car with a three pointed star, incongruously decorated ATM, has to be altered under the global gaze of an ever expanding audience has failed, as an engineering concept, would not be palatable to Mercedes and understandably so. The TP may even see the fallout from this as an existential threat, hence the reluctance to raise the ride heights. Which way will it all go?"

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4. Posted by meatball, 13/06/2022 18:46

"raise... the... car... yeah, the car will be slower, but they are right on the ground compared to the rest. no mystery why his back hurts. raise it and bitch to the team internally that the car is too slow. the theatrics after knowing you'll be bouncing down the straights when there IS a solution are childish."

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5. Posted by kenji, 13/06/2022 12:03

"@ Wokingchap.... solutions do already exist as not all teams are subject to the same levels as Mercedes. Why any self respecting engineer would freely/collectively contribute to a better performance being afforded any com petitor is quite naive."

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6. Posted by kenji, 13/06/2022 11:54

"This whole issue has become rather tiresome when examining the facts ,as they have been put about. Many F1 experts say that this 'bouncing' can be quite easily be reduced to manageable levels, if not eradicated, by increasing ride height...at some expense to the performance of the car. The fact that Wolff et al are prepared to put their drivers through some serious discomfort surely indicates a high degree of desperation. Mercedes have obviously gone down the wrong rabbit hole. They can fix it but are reluctant to do so ATPIT as that woud be an admission they're not willing to make. Hubris rules....."

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7. Posted by Chester, 13/06/2022 11:01

"Wolff crying wolf- again. If you value Lewis and George, raise the ride height or go back to the drawing board. "

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8. Posted by Anthony, 13/06/2022 10:24

"The teams may have voted against a minimum ride height but that would not prevent a team from increasing the ride height on their car to reduce/eliminate the porpoising. The fact that they choose not to do this (because of the impact on performance) surely does not mean that the regulations should be changed."

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9. Posted by Wokingchap, 13/06/2022 9:42

"How about a collective solution by all the teams putting their heads/knowledge together to fix it.... i could be too optimistic."

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Hamilton could miss Canadian GP, warns Wolff

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